1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pine needle cutter whereby one person may easily remove pine needles that are trapped within screening. A plurality of pine needles are frequently joined together at one end by a pine needle head. When the joined pine needles fall upon a screen surface, the individual pine needles often drop into separate holes in the screening; the pine needles are then captured by the screening, as the pine needle heads prevent the needles from falling all the way through. The pine needle cutting apparatus cuts the pine needle heads from the pine needles, releasing the pine needles so they may fall the rest of the way through the screen. The pine needle heads may then be swept from the screening using the brush portion of the pine needle cutter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many areas of the country, it is necessary to screen outdoor areas to prevent the intrusion of insects and debris. One particular problem occurs when the screening is located adjacent to pine trees which shed their needles in a form that a plurality of needles are joined together at one end by a pine needle head. Frequently, when the joined pine needles fall upon screening, the free ends of the joined needles drop through the holes in the screen but are prevented from passing through the screen by the pine needle head. Eventually, as the numbers of pine needles that are trapped within the screening increase, the air flow and the light passing through the screen are reduced and the appearance of the screening becomes very unattractive. Sweeping with a brush or using a blower has not been a successful means for removing those pine needles that are trapped within the screening. Currently, there is no device that is specifically designed to solve this problem. The prior art consists primarily of combinations of brushes and scrapers which are used to remove debris from floors.
One such device is disclosed in U. S. Design Pat. No. 235,119 to Delbert R. Gode. The device teaches a combination floor brush, scraper and a wiper. The design of the scraper is unclear.
Another such device is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,094,728 issued to Oscar F. White that also discloses a broom with an attached scraper. The scraper is narrow with pointed corners and has a straight edge.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,097,384 issued to John V. Clark discloses a broom and scraper combination which has a protective shield that covers the scraper until the scraper is needed. The scraper has a straight edge and is fixed in relation to the handle and the brush.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 257,521 issued to Niccolai Piero is a hand held scraper and brush combination which discloses a straight edge scraper fixedly attached to a short handle and a brush.
A number of other hand held tools have been designed to solve particular problems; one of these devices is a grill cleaning tool disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,487,491 and issued to John M. Dunn. This hand held tool is a combination brush, wire scraper, and flat bladed scraper which is slidably extended along the shaft of the hand held tool. The blade is a narrow blade having a curvature which has been designed to fit the curve of the brazier or grill bottom.
Another specialty brush scraper combination is disclosed by U.S. Design Pat. No. 232,299 which was issued to Maurice Epstein which discloses an ice scraper and brush apparently designed for removing snow and ice from automobile windshields.
A number of hand held cutting tools have been specially designed for specific purposes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,646,621 issued to Paul Catanese discloses a thorn removing device having a fixed double edge blade designed with a "V" so that the blade may be drawn along a rose stem removing the rose's thorns. Another specialty item is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,307 issued to George A. Lucas, Jr., et al. which discloses a small hand held device having a straight edged blade that is attached to a holder that is used to thin clusters of grapes so that the remaining grapes will grow larger.
None of the prior art discloses or suggests an apparatus which could be used successfully to remove pine needles trapped within screening. Therefore, it remains clear that there is a need for a device that can remove pine needles with little risk of damage to the screening.